Tribune. Chaining the summits of the G7, then the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [OTAN] and the European Union [UE], interspersed with probably more tense bilateral meetings with Vladimir Poutin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Joe Biden began, on June 10, a week of high-level meetings in Europe.
For Westerners, it is an opportunity to renew a transatlantic link damaged by its predecessor and to reaffirm the importance of their common values. It will not be, for once, an exercise in form. At a time when a growing number of authoritarian regimes no longer hide their contempt for human rights and the rule of law, democracies have a historic responsibility to form a united front to recall their principles. This will be all the more effective if Biden excels at speaking candidly on these matters, and so does his counterparts.
Europhile diplomats
It is hard to underestimate the relief that followed Donald Trump’s eventful departure in January in Western European countries. There has even been talk of a “bidenmania” in France, undoubtedly prompted by the announcements of stimulus plans by the Democratic president, which show his desire to break with forty years of ultraliberal reaganism. The presence at his side of a team of seasoned diplomats and Europhiles reinforces the enthusiasm.
There will of course be points of tension to be addressed, but they will be addressed constructively and without unnecessary animosity. Trade disputes over steel [taxations sur l’acier importé] launched under Trump, for example, are still unresolved. We will also talk about restoring reciprocity in travel between the United States and Europe in the post-Covid era. While Europeans are reopening their borders to American tourists, European expatriates in the United States (including 160,000 French) are almost impossible to obtain a return visa to the United States if they leave the territory. The case, to which Célia Belin, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, drew attention, could be settled during the meetings of the week.
International tax reform
From a European point of view, it is certain that the return of a multilateralist American administration has advantages, if only by its dynamism. If the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have been working for several years to implement a major international tax reform, it is with the arrival of the Biden teams in January that things seem to be triggered. Thus, during the G7 finances in London on June 4 and 5, the American Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, was a force of conviction, helping to pass an unprecedented agreement on a minimum corporate tax of 15%, which could put end to the phenomenon of tax havens. The Biden administration has also made very ambitious proposals for taxing large multinational companies, including digital ones.
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